The people in the United States are taking part in presidential elections that involve the current Democratic President Barack Obama and the Republican candidate Mitt Romney. According to polls carried out before the elections, the two have almost equal chances of emerging victorious, Info-Prim Neo reports. The voting system in the U.S. allowed a part of the voters to mark their ballots before the Election Day, which always falls on the first Tuesday in November. The Americans can vote in three ways: ask for the ballot paper by mail beforehand, vote and then send it back to the electoral office; ask for the ballot beforehand and go to put it themselves in the box set up in or near the electoral office, or go to the electoral office on the Election Day and vote on the ballot paper or using electronic devices. About 25% of the Americans have voted by the Election Day. The Americans in Moldova were also able to ask for a ballot by mail beforehand and then send it to the U.S. marked. The U.S. Embassy in Chisinau does not possess information about the number of Americans in Moldova who cast their votes as they could request ballots independently, without using the Embassy’s diplomatic mail. The U.S. voting system is based on a double vote. The 538 selected electors vote after the people cast their ballots. The electors will choose the President and Vice President on December 17. The candidate who polls most of the votes can lose the elections if he/she does not garner at least 270 votes of the electors. As regards the electoral views of the candidates, Barack Obama aims to reduce the costs by US$4,000 billion over ten years, including using the money saved after ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also intends to increase the taxes for the rich and eliminate the fiscal niches for companies. Mitt Romney plans to limit the federal budget to 20% of the GDP, as against 24.4% in 2012, to restrain the fiscal niches for financing a general decrease and to reduce the number of servants by 10%. The two candidates have completely different views on abortion and marriages between two people of the same sex and religion. The Democratic candidate is for allowing the women to decide whether to keep the child or not, while the Republican candidate is for banning abortion, except for cases of rape, incest or risk to the mother’s health or life. Barack Obama was the first head of the U.S. executive who pleaded in favor of same-sex marriage. Mitt Romney is against such marriages and civil unions, supporting an amendment to the Constitution to specifically define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Barack Obama is a Christian, and Mitt Romney is a member of the Mormon Church. The new White House leader will be invested on January 20.